The present invention relates to an ultrasonic-probe-operation control method and system for controlling the number of transducers--incorporated in an ultrasonic probe--to be driven at any given time.
The transducers incorporated in the probe transmit ultrasonic beams to a subject. These beams are reflected from the subject. The probe detects the reflected beams in the form of echo signals. The echo signals are processed, thereby forming a tomogram of the subject. An idling period elapses between the time the apparatus has been turned on and the time the apparatus starts forming a tomogram of the subject after the probe has been attached to the subject at a desired part. The transducers are driven during this idling period, and hence consume power. The longer the idling period, the more the transducers are heated. The more the transducers are heated, the shorter the lifetime of the transducers.
To prevent the lifetime of the transducers from decreasing, a method has been proposed in which the voltage applied to the transducers is reduced as long as the probe detects no echo signals. The voltage, which is high enough to drive the transducers completely, is applied to the transducers only while the probe is detecting an echo signal. The total power supplied to the transducers is, therefore, smaller than in the case where the high voltage is applied to the transducers all the time the apparatus is turned on.
When this method is applied to the conventional ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus, either the low voltage or the high voltage must be selected instantaneously, for example within the repeating period (about 10 nsec) of an ultrasonic transmitting signal. However, the response characteristic of the apparatus is so poor that such an instantaneous selection of voltage cannot be achieved.
Therefore, there is a reed for a method that can reduce the power consumption of the transducers incorporated in an ultrasonic probe, without switching the voltage applied to the transducers, from one voltage to another.